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MN Department of Commerce announces Solar on Public Buildings program
The Minnesota Department of Commerce announced this week it is accepting applications for the new Solar on Public Buildings program. The program is made possible by legislation that was enacted in 2023, and it mirrors the popular Solar on Schools program that is currently taking its second round of applications.
The 2023 law establishing the Solar on Public Buildings program expressly requires an applicant to submit “a written statement from the interconnecting utility [stating] that no issues that would prevent interconnection of the solar energy generating system as proposed are foreseen.” This provision was included at the urging of MMUA to protect the applicant, the utility and all its customers. Primarily, the provision allows the utility to look at the financial arrangement between the local government and the solar developer to ensure it is not a power purchase agreement where the local government buys energy from someone other than its utility.
All municipal electric utilities have been provided templates for cogeneration rules and interconnection procedures for their governing bodies to adopt (optionally). The templates contain language affirming that the utility enforces its right to be the sole seller of electricity to its customers.
If a Solar on Public Buildings agreement between a customer and a solar developer would result in the customer—in this case, the local government—buying the output of the solar panels, the utility may rightfully refuse to provide a permissive statement. That is because the utility, by its rules and procedures, would not ultimately allow the facility under such an arrangement to interconnect with the utility. Review by the utility also allows it to check the agreement’s assumptions about future utility rate increases and advise the customer as to whether they are accurate. Such calculations are vital to ensuring correct system payback determinations, but they are often based on general, inaccurate assumptions provided by developers. Under Solar for Schools, the applicant school or school district must similarly obtain the utility’s permission. In that case, permission is typically achieved by signing a memorandum of understanding acknowledging that no issues would prevent interconnection under the utility’s rules and procedures and agreeing that a rate history has been provided.
The deadline for submitting a readiness assessment for the program is Monday, June 3. To read more about the program, click here.
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